


No Light, No Light

by Wish29



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Happy Ending, Keith is afraid of hurting people, Lance can give good advice once in awhile, M/M, but it's mostly angst, getting captured, i think, non graphic torture scene, sort of a elemental AU, there should be fluff in here somewhere, they/their pronouns for Pidge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-08-07 11:40:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7713580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wish29/pseuds/Wish29
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He always dreamt of fire.</p><p>No matter where he turned and who he called out, nobody answered in the endless dark void.</p><p>He never felt more alone than in his dreams as the fire continued to burn around him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Light, No Light

**Author's Note:**

> I hope I'm not late for the Klance theme Fire/Ice! Here's my contribution to the fandom and I hope you like it~ The name of the title is from the song by Florence + The Machine which I was listening to when I wrote this fic. Please ignore all the grammar and spelling errors. It's been awhile since I watched Voltron and I might have remembered some things incorrectly.

_He always dreamt of fire._

_No matter where he turned and who he called out, nobody answered in the endless dark void._

_He never felt more alone than in his dreams as the fire continued to burn around him_

:~:~:

 

The first time he accidentally lit fire, literal _fire,_ in his hands was an accident. He was running away from yet again another foster home that took him in a few months ago. Everything was great in the beginning, just like every other family he was placed into. He thought may be, this family that took him in would be different.

Keith should have known that he couldn’t have a happy moment in his life.

The couple that took him in started hitting him. First it was just a slap to the hand, than it was the back of his head which would cause him to get headaches because sometimes he would bang against the wall as well. It escalated from there and finally tonight, as his ‘father’ tried to kill him with a knife. He braced himself for the pain but instead of a knife being stabbed into him, it was the scream of his foster father that made him look up.

The man was on fire, the hand clutching the knife was dropped as the man rolled on the floor to put out the fire while his ‘mother’ looked at him in horror, especially his hands.

Looking down, Keith almost screamed when he saw bright flames dancing across his hands but it didn’t hurt him. He didn’t have much time to think of what was happening when his foster mother yelled and finally moved, picking up the discarded knife. Seeing as how she was still slightly hesitant on attacking him, Keith decided to book it and ran. Throwing the kitchen’s back door open, he ran into the forest behind his house all the while thinking how no one would want him now.

_That was the first night he dreamt of fire._

:~:~:

 

Years later, Keith found out that only selected people were able to use this mysterious power. No one knows how or why it would manifest but those who could were either scorned in fear or loved for the small miracles they could do.

He didn’t really care if he was hated. If there was no one to love you than being hated was a small matter. That’s why when he applied for the Garrison, he didn’t mention the fact that he had such powers.

Maybe he should have because the moment he found out Shiro, his best friend and the only person that was like him, having these weird elemental powers, went missing on the Keberos mission, the burning flames which he tried to keep at bay broke free.

It was a mistake too. One moment his Officer was lecturing him about insubordination, the next, his pent up frustration and sadness caused the whole room to combust into flames triggering the sprinklers.

He was discharged a few minutes later. Packing up his meger belongings, he set out into the desert after hot wiring one of the Garrison’s Speeder and he never looked back

_The flames that was burning beneath his skin was slightly tame for once._

 

:~:~:

 

When he found the cave to the Blue lion, he felt at peace. He didn’t have to concentrate to make the flames from bursting out of his skin. It was soothing, like cold water covering his entire body as he ran his fingers along the carved wall.

He went back to the cave everyday when he wasn’t doing his investigation in the run down shack he found in the middle of the desert. He would sit in front of a mural for hours and when the sun has finally set with the sweltering hot temperature dropping till it’s freezing cold, Keith would go back. It was a routine he did everyday for a year till Shiro came back in an escape pod, three Garrison students appearing and how everything changed.

 

:~:~:

 

Ever since he found his own lion, Red, and bonded with everyone, Keith realised that everyone in the team has powers. Shiro could control air and a really rare element called light. Hunk and Pidge could move the earth and Lance could create ice from freezing water.

Keith never told them he could bend fire to his will. The thought of letting the flames go, allowing it to run free, causes him to freeze in fear. What if I hurt them? What if I can’t control the flames? What if I scared them just like all the foster family I’ve been in?

What if they left me alone?

Because Keith knows he can’t go back to being alone again. Being around people, friends, is addictive and the thought of going back to how it used to be scared him even more. Especially when team Voltron was like a family, the only family he has.

That’s why when he felt his powers growing stronger due to his connection between his lion, which almost slipped free after one of their battles with the Galra Empire, he immediately retreated to his room and locked the doors.

Bright orange flames leaped out from his hands as Keith tried to keep calm and get back his control over the flames. Tucking himself to a corner of the room so that he isn’t near anything flammable, he closed his eyes and focused.

Keith could feel the flames dancing across his skin and most probably also burning his suit but he paid it no mind, concentrating on pulling the flames into his body.

He didn’t know how long he sat in that corner but when he finally got the flames under control, his hands and legs were numb from being in the same position for too long.

As he slowly got the feelings back to his limbs, Keith slowly peeled off his armour. Some parts of them were covered in black scorched marks but they are small so it could be easily concealed. He could use the excuse of getting it from the fight back at the planet they were trying to save. Keith did step out of Red for some parts of the mission after all.

“Oi, Keith you alright in there? You’ve been in there for hours man and you even skipped the day Hunk is letting us try out his newest recipe.” Lance said banging on the door, yelling for Keith to come out saying ‘I know you’re in there!’

Sighing tiredly and the slight pounding at the back of his head from Lance’s yelling and banging, Keith opened the door, glaring at Lance who stopped in mid shout.

“I’m fine Lance, as you can see.” Keith said, stepping out of his room.

“Yeah right and you weren’t the first one out of your lion and shut yourself in your room for nearly half the day. So spill, what’s the matter?” Lance replied, crossing his arms and looking at Keith with a worried look in his eyes.

“I’m fine! I was sleeping until you woke me up. So there’s nothing to worry about.” With that, Keith turned and walk towards the direction of the kitchen. Now that Lance mentioned it, he was really hungry.

If Keith heard another set of footsteps following him to the kitchen, he didn’t say anything.

_When it was finally light’s out, Keith dreamt of water slowly taming the fire that surrounds him._

 

:~:~:

 

After that day, it seemed like once they finished saving a planet, Keith would have to go back to his room to stop the flames from bursting out of his skin. When it happened the second time, Shiro confronted him. Since it was Shiro and the only one that knew of his powers, Keith told him the truth.

Shiro never once asked why he wanted to keep his flames a secret for the years they have been friends, even now. The Black paladin simply nodded and told Keith he’ll help him out as much as he can with a pat to his shoulder. Keith smiled slightly at the gesture and nodded his head in thanks before leaving for the training deck.

That was a few days ago and now he keeps getting weird glances from the other paladins and the Alteans. Though Keith knows that everyone would respect his decision on keeping his secrets, Lance however was barely holding himself back.

The Blue paladin would try to ask the question everyone was dying to know. He looked like he even thought out how it would go and what he would say. But every time he’s in front of Keith and tries to ask the elephant in the room, he would ask a totally different question.

Keith doesn’t know if he should be relieved that Lance always drops the question or frustrated about the fact that he just wouldn’t spit it out.

It seems like fate decided to make the decision for him when he’s on the training deck one day. He was on a higher level than usual for that days practice and Keith was on the defensive as he blocked another strike from the gladiator. His shield was knocked away a long time ago and now he only has his bayard to defend himself.

During a particular block, Keith wasn’t ready for the gladiator to use a strike that could wound him badly. Without thinking, Keith striked out with his hand and a burst of bright flame enveloped the gladiator.

Watching in horror, Keith tried to find anything to put out the fire. As he was moving towards the bench where he laid his belongings to grab anything to put out the fire, he heard the door open and watched as Lance’s expression change from relax to panic. Not a moment later, a large jet of water extinguished the fire leaving behind a scorched gladiator.

“What the quiznak happened here! Why’s there fire?” Lance questioned loudly looking for the source of the fire because Altean robots do not suddenly combust. The gladiator looked like a fire ball was aimed at it!

Keith stiffened as he felt Lance staring at him waiting for an answer. Knowing there’s no way out of it, Keith sighed. Looks like the cat’s out of the bag now.

“T-there’s something I never told the team.” Keith winced at the stutter and tried to stop his hands from shaking by clenching them but it only made it worse. Taking the silence as Lance asking him to continue, Keith went on. “I can control fire but sometimes it slips out of my control and accidents happen.” Gesturing to the scorched and wet gladiator, Keith looked at his feet. He would much rather not see the hurt and betrayed look Lance would give him thank you very much.

“Dude is that what the big secret has been about these few weeks?” Lance asked walking towards Keith. “Everyone thought you were sick or something. We even asked Shiro and he said it was a secret.”

Hearing the Blue paladin laughing, Keith look up and saw that Lance was right in front of him now. His hands were on his hips and a smile on his face.

“You do know that we won’t judge you right? I mean look at Pidge! They hid such a big secret from us but we were alright with it.”

“But we already knew Pidge’s real gender, it was only you who didn’t.”

“That’s beside the point! The point is that we won’t judge you if you had accidents controlling your powers. I mean I almost drowned once because of my powers but you don’t see me hiding and being scared of it right?” Keith looked at Lance in surprise. He almost drowned? Why wasn’t he scared of it? Every time Keith felt strong emotions or shielding himself from a surprise attack, his flames would burn everything around him.

“You know my Mama told me once when I was still afraid of using my powers after almost drowning that this power is apart of me. If you’re afraid of it, wouldn’t it be the same as being afraid of yourself? So you really shouldn’t be afraid to use it. I mean fire is a really pretty cool power to have.” Silence enveloped the two before they blushed. Lance in embarrassment for admitting that Keith was cool and Keith for the compliment that Lance gave.

“Anyway! I won’t tell the others but you have to promise me that you’ll tell them soon! They’re all pretty worried, and you wouldn’t want Hunk to start worrying! He’ll go full out doctor’s mode and believe me you would not want that.” By than Keith was already smiling and chuckling slightly when Lance finally stopped his rambling.

“Fine, I’ll tell them soon. And thanks, for the advice. You’re kind of not bad to be around with once in awhile.”

“Hey, I’m nice to be around with all the time! It’s you who’s always prissy about the fact that I’m better than you!” And that’s when the moment between the two of them was broken. 

“Oh really, you want to have a round of sparring to see how fast you’ll lose?”

“If anyone’s losing it’s you!”

Their bickering held no fire like it was in the past and when it was time for dinner, everyone in the dining room could feel the change of atmosphere in the air.

“So Keith, have something to share with us?” Shiro asked with a knowing smile as he ate a spoonful of his food.

“Not really, but I’ll tell everyone soon.” Keith replied giving a reassuring expression and immediately the slightly worried looks on everyone’s faces lightened.

That night, dinner was for once loud and fun as everyone forgot their worries on saving the universe for just a moment.

It was the calm before a storm.

 

:~:~:

 

They weren’t expecting for an ambush as they came out of the wormhole. No one was ready when the Galra ship shot them. Everyone was in a frenzy as they went to their lions while Allura was in the Command Center directing them and Coran bringing up the particle energy barrier around the Castle.

Just when they thought they were winning, reinforcements came and the next thing they know, they were being pushed back. The lions were taking too much damage, when they defeated an enemy, two more would replace it.

Pidge was yelling that Green was dangerously low on energy, Yellow had large damage done to it’s armour. Blue was sparking in some areas after a nasty hit and the only lions that still looked in good condition was Red and Black.

Allura informed them that she was opening another wormhole now that they had enough energy. Shiro was ordering a retreat back to the castle. After destroying the enemies around him, Keith was already moving Red towards the direction of the Castle when he saw Blue fighting the enemies. However, it was the energy blast that was aimed at the Blue lion that made Keith direct Red to push Lance out of the way.

When the blast hit his Lion, there were loud blaring noises as Red cried out in pain from their mental link. Keith immediately tried to steady the lion but it seems like the damage was already done. Red didn’t move and there were warning notices on his screen telling him the amount of damage he suffered. The blaring sound was a background noise as he heard the rest of the team shouting through the communication line. Looking at the screen, Keith realised he was blasted far away from the team and the Galran ships are closing in on him.

“Keith what are you doing! Get out of there!” Lance was by far shouting the loudest as he tried to reach the Red lion but the enemies were trying to put distance between them.

Moving the control and silently telling Red to move, Keith felt panic seize him as Red pulsed back in his mind with sadness.

“I can’t Lance! Red took too much damage and she can’t move.” The Red paladin said feeling resignation settle into him as he heard someone curse through their communication line and even more shouting.

“Than I’ll drag you back to the Castle so wait for me!” Even from a distance, Keith could see Blue fighting even though the sparking around her damaged parts were getting worrisome.

“You idiot! All of our lions are damaged and only Shiro is able to fight them!” Pidge yelled through the comms even though they were also fighting some of the Galran ships trying to sneak up on Blue.

“Than leave me and get back to the Castle!” Keith said as screens of his teammates popped up. Everyone was wearing different expressions. Hunk looked like he was trying to hold back tears, Pidge was gritting their teeth, Shiro had a blank expression but the slight tremble on his body told everyone how much he wanted to help, however as the leader of Voltron, he had to make the hardest decision.

Lance could only widen his eyes as desperation showed on his face as he registered what Keith said.

“What do you mean leave! We can’t leave not without you! Just sit tight and wait while we get to you!” The waver in Lance’s voice didn’t go unnoticed by anyone. Everyone knew it was a desperate situation but Lance was trying to deny it with his usual confidence though it was broken by the slight sheen to his eyes.

“Lance, leave. Red can’t move. Blue’s really badly damaged along with Yellow. Green’s already low on power and only Black’s fine. There’s a shit ton of Galra ships and the wormhole is going to appear any minute.” Keith reasoned as he saw Lance stiffened, the fight in him slowly leaving as the thought of the situation at hand.

“Would you rather have one of us captured or all of us? We’re defenders of the universe Lance. If we’re all captured who’se going to defend the planets being enslaved by the Galra Empire? Who’s going to defend Earth?” That caused Lance to stop for a second before shooting down an enemy ship. Keith looked to the visual on his screen and saw that the Galra ships are closing in on him already.

“Fall back Lance. You’ve heard his decision.” Shiro said, his voice sounding so small unlike their usual leader as he gave the orders. Hunk was already pulling the Blue lion away while Pidge took care of the last few enemies before following him.

“W-we’ll save you. We’ll definetly save you so wait for us.” Lance declared, tears dripping down his cheeks as he held the controls to Blue tightly. 

“Yeah, I might even bust myself out of there while waiting for you.” Keith joked sadly as one of the Galran ships neared him.

“We’ll see about that mullet-man.”

That was the last thing he heard before communications were cut off and he was transported to the ships.

  

:~:~:

 

In the days that he was in captivity, it was always the same. Breakfast, which is some weird goo that taste like nothing, get dragged out of the cell to be interrogated by their Commander which he’ll stay silent. That would lead to him getting beat up and shocked along with other torture sessions which he would scream till his throat is raw before they would throw him back into the cell along with dinner before shutting the door. The next morning it’s rinse and repeat.

He didn’t know how long it’s been since he was captured or where he was. The cell they gave him was dark and windowless. The only light that could be seen was when the door’s open or they slide the tray of food in through the small opening before closing it.

Keith could feel himself breaking. His body was littered with cuts and bruises, he could feel a rib or two being cracked or broken making it hard to breathe. His limbs wouldn’t stop trembling from all the electrocution he went through and after his newest torture session which was being submerged in cold water, he was freezing. Even when he raised his body temperature using his powers, he couldn’t stop shaking. 

Tucking himself into the corner of the room, he hugged himself into a tight ball as he tried to warm up. Raising his body temperature which took a long time for him to concentrate, he could feel the warmth coming back to his limbs.

Just as he thought he could catch a few minutes of sleep, he heard footsteps coming to his room. Immediately, he reigned in his powers just as he door unlocked and slammed open.

The Commander stepped in, looking at Keith with a sneer. The guards came in and quickly restrained Keith’s hand in thick handcuffs after making him kneel in front of the Commander. 

“I’m giving you a last chance to tell me all you know about Voltron. So would you comply or would you rather go through torture again?” The Commander asked, yellow eyes boring into Keith’s

Though the Red paladin knew he would be hurt again and he was already slowly breaking, Keith wouldn’t betray his team, his family.

“Same answer, I’ll never tell you.” Keith managed a smirk on his face before he was hit with the butt of the gun behind his head. Stars exploded behind his eyes as he felt small trails of blood flowing down his head.

“Since you won’t talk, I have not much use for you. But your friends have been going around destroying my army so I think a little surprise is in store for them.” Grabbing his hair, the Commander made Keith look at him, a sadistic grin on his face.

“The Galra Empire already knows that your planet has the ability to use strange powers but only for a few selected people. You didn’t think we wouldn’t notice that you’re those few people are you?” Fear seized his entire body as he was dragged out of the cell.

Panicking, Keith tried to break free from the guards grasp but the handcuff was hindering him a lot. He felt himself trembling slightly as he was placed into a room that look like it was from a horror story. Jars with many different items were placed on the shelf. Machinery were placed along the wall and already, Keith could see the Galran’s preparing what looked like an operating table.

Using the last of his strength, Keith tried to hit his guards but was instead placed on the table where they took of the thick cuff and replacing it with the once attacked to the operating table. With him lying on his front, he could only see what was going on at the corner of his eyes.

The Galran Commander walked in seconds later and with a sickening smile on his face he gave the go ahead. 

The next few hours, the room was filled with wretched screams and blood as they conducted their experiments.

_When Keith finally passed out from the overload of pain, he dreamt of black flames instead of orange. The water that tamed the flames was gone and he was burning._

 

:~:~:

 

The cell he was in shook as a loud blast was heard outside. At the back of his mind, he could feel Red purring in delight that the paladins were rescuing them. He wanted to answer her, tell her that he was happy too but he couldn’t. Whatever the Galra did to him, he couldn’t control his body. It was like watching a screen while a show was playing.

At first he could. He didn’t feel anything different except for the small bump that was beneath his skin, behind his neck. Red was worried about him after feeling his pain. Keith did all he could to reassure her that he was fine but really he wasn’t. As days go by, he couldn’t answer her anymore and sometimes, he would black out before waking up in his cell in the opposite direction that he was sitting. Which led to the newest development where he couldn’t move his body on his own anymore.

As another blast rocked the ship, the door to his cell was thrown open with a bang. The Commander strode into the cell and looked at him, as if he was searching for something. He must have found it because the next thing Keith knew, his body was following the orders given by the Galra. 

Shocked, Keith tried to stop his feet from moving but couldn’t, feeling much like a puppet on strings as he followed the Commander towards the sound of fighting. He saw his friends fighting the robot soldiers and even though he tried to tell them to run, that it was a trap, they couldn’t hear him.

Lance was the first to spot him when the robot soldiers were all defeated. He looked so relieved and happy until he saw the person standing beside him. Soon everyone was looking at him that was when the Commander started to speak. 

“You’ve destroyed half of my fleet and killed nearly my entire crew in this ship just so you could rescue your precious friend. But I must ask, are you sure he’s still loyal to you?” the Galran questioned, completely composed, confident. Knowing that he’ll win. Keith just wanted to scream and shout for his friends to leave.

“What did you do to him?” Shiro said, anger lacing the tone of his voice as his stance didn’t change from his battle position. That caused the team to stiffened as they held their bayards tightly.

The Commander laughed darkly. “Why don’t you find out.”

Keith could feel his hands slowly reaching out to grab his bayard that was presented towards him and with a soft command, he went straight for Hunk. The Yellow paladin barely had time to block and doge the attack before Keith felt his hands moving to strike his friend.

He felt something wrapped around his leg before he was falling and getting shocked. He knew it was Pidge attacking him but he couldn’t feel the electricity at all. He simply got up and went towards Pidge, grabbing the hand that was holding their bayard, Keith hit their stomach with his elbows which caused them to gasp in pain. When Pidge loosened their hold on the bayard, he grabbed it before kicking them in a spinning kick making them slam into a wall which Hunk tried to soften by catching them.

Without Pidge holding their bayard, it deactivated. Throwing it aside, he turned around saw Shiro attacking the Galran Commander. Lance was standing a few meters aways from him, bayard held shakily in his hands and yet he was looking at Keith with determination.

“I promise that I will save you and I will, you heard that Keith!”

Yes, he could hear it loud and clear

 

:~:~:

 

Lance didn’t know what to feel when the Galra beside Keith gave him his bayard and an order and suddenly Hunk was being attacked. Shiro was yelling at them to distract Keith before attacking the Galra.

He was telling them how much fun it was to torture their friend even though Keith never gave them any secrets of Voltron. The Commander went on into details about how they found out that Keith was those special people that could control fire and an element called darkness. Such people were rare and special.

Lance could only continue listening in shock as he saw Pidge using using their bayard to paralyse Keith so that he’ll stop but it was like he couldn’t feel anything!

“You know, when we experimented on him, the screams that he made was really beautiful. He was even screaming for you, the paladins to save him! The amount of satisfaction you didn’t know I had when he pleaded for the pain to stop.” The Commander laughed evilly. Shiro was so angry, even from a distance, Lance could feel the air swirling around him.

“Though it would have been nice if he could tell me all the secrets of Voltron, it seems like no matter what, he has a will of his own even when I took away the control of his body. No matter, I’m sure he’ll talk once he falls into despair after killing all of you.”

Lance could feel anger coursing through him at what happened to Keith. How dare they! Was it not enough that they made everyone suffered? Was it not enough that they destroyed Altea? Giving Shiro insomnia from all the nightmares he has? Making Pidge lose their father and brother? And now Keith, one of the paladins that went through the hardest childhood out of all of them. The one that was afraid of hurting people with his flames because of what happened in the past?

When Keith turned towards him after kicking Pidge away, Lance felt determined. He’ll save Keith from whatever the Galra did to him. Even if it’s the last thing he did.

“I promise that I will save you and I will, you heard that Keith!”

The Red and Blue paladins clashed. Lance using his bayard to block and fire from afar when he gains distance. Keith would try to get close to him to attack him. Hunk and Pidge would try to distract Keith when Lance had to put distance between them.

Behind them, they could hear the Galran Commander and Shiro duking it out. When Shiro landed the final blow to the Commander, the Black paladin thought it was finally over and made a move towards the team when he heard the Commander chuckling.

“What’s so funny?” Shiro questioned thinking what the the Galra could be up to.

“You didn’t think I lost did you?”

Suddenly hearing a shout behind him, Shiro tuned around and saw Keith clutching his head in pain. Slowly flames were starting to appear around him and soon Keith started screaming. Bright orange flames slowly started turning black. 

Turning to face the Galra, Shiro angrily grabbed the Commander by the collar and hauled him up.

“What did you do?”

By then it was too late, the Commander was already dead and the room that they were standing in started turning sweltering hot. A vortex of fire surrounding the friend that they were trying to save.

 

:~:~:

 

As he attacked Lance yet again and missing due to dodging a blast coming from Hunk, Keith felt the prickling of discomfort behind his neck. But it didn’t stop there, groaning, he tried moving his hand and found that he was able to feel his limbs now. Clutching his head, the pain was steadily growing stronger and the flames beneath his skin grew wilder and violent till it slipped out.

Pain turned into agony as he felt like something was stabbing him with a molten hot blade. He couldn’t stop the scream as the fire around him grew larger and hotter.

There were yells but Keith couldn’t hear them over the roar of the fire. With the flames partially turning black and surrounding him, it was the same as in his dreams. No matter where he turned, he was surrounded by the fire. 

The flames was slowly burning him, he could feel it. The blaze were making it hard to breathe as every minute passed and soon he was falling to the ground on his knees trying to control the inferno.

But no matter how hard he tried to concentrate, it would slip through his grasp. Gradually the lack of air was making him lose consciousness.

“Keith!”

He must be getting delirious now because that can’t be Lance that calling him. There was no way the idiot was still here.

“Keith!”

 _“He’s still here”_ Keith thought, looking up and seeing Lance reaching him, a light sheen of water protecting him.

“Keith, buddy you need to stop using your powers. You’re going to die at this rate!” Lance said supporting the Red paladin by putting both hands on his shoulder.

“I-I can’t. There’s something from stopping me from controlling it.” Lifting his hands weakly, he tried to touch the back of his neck, telling Lance where the problem was. The Blue paladin immediately went to touch the nape of Keith’s neck and flinched.

The skin beneath his fingers was burning hot. Lance already lowered his body temperature to almost freezing point and covered himself in a dome of water but it was still boiling hot! This isn’t normal at all.

“You have to cut it out.” Keith said weakly, leaning slightly closer to Lance. The coldness that surrounded him was making it bearable from the scorching heat.

“What?! Are you nuts? Do you know how dangerous that is? You’re going to bleed out all over the floor before we can get you to the healing pods!” Lance shouted shaking Keith by the shoulders.

“Do you have a better idea? I can’t control my powers! It’s going to take ages to put out this fire and we’re going to be burned to death at this rate unless you get this thing in my neck out!” Keith shouted back in response, grabbing his fallen bayard which he didn’t realize he dropped. Activating it, he tried to position his sword behind his neck before his hands were grabbed. 

“What do you think you’re doing!”

“What does it look like? Getting whatever the fuck they did to me out!” Snarling, the Red paladin tried to wretch his hand out of Lance’s grip before he was enveloped in a hug. Tensing up, Keith stayed still as Lance tightened his hold on him.

“Do you trust me?

 “L-Lance?”

“Do you trust me, Keith?” 

No, Keith really doesn’t but it isn’t Lance he doesn’t trust, it’s himself. He’s afraid of what would happen when Lance puts his plan into play. He’s afraid of hurting him like how he hurt his friends even though he wasn’t really in control in what he’s doing.

But, he wants to believe that Lance could save them. Could save him.

“Yes.” 

Hearing Lance sucking in a deep breathe, the atmosphere suddenly changed around them. Cold air was swirling around them and ice was starting to form on the floor.

Slowly icicles were starting to grow. Keith could feel himself breathing easily as the flames slowly died. As the fire gradually extingushed, Keith felt cold, colder than Lance, who was still hugging him tightly and getting sleepy.

“Sorry, but I had to make you feel tired. That way your powers won’t go berserk anymore.” Lance murmured, hands moving towards the bump at Keith’s neck and felt relieved that it wasn’t burning hot anymore. “I’ll probably keep you asleep so that it won’t start up again, you’ll feel cold though. Why don’t you get some sleep?”

The thought of closing his eyes and dreaming the same dream he had for years now caused Keith’s breath to hitch. He didn’t want to dream. He didn’t want to think that everything that happened wasn’t real. That he was still unable to control his own body to move. If he woke up in that dark cell knowing that everything was a dream, he wouldn’t be able to take it.

“Hey, hey, I promise I’ll be there when you wake up. I’ll even cradle you in my arms if that convinces you.” He could feel the corners of his mouth tugging into a smile but he was too tired to move other than leaning his head onto Lance’s shoulder.

 “Promise?” Keith asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Yeah, the next time you wake up, you’ll be in the Castle with everyone, so go to sleep.”

The last thing Keith heard before he was being lulled into slumber was the sound of worried murmur from who thinks are from their teammates before he was dead to the world.

 

:~:~:

 

Waking up from the healing pods was always weird. Especially when the doors open and all you can do is try to take a step in front of you before you fall. That was exactly what Keith expected, except, he didn’t think a pair of hands would catch him and being pulled into a warm chest.

Slowly blinking the sleep away, his eyes began to focus on the person in front of him. Lance was looking at him with a tired but happy look on his face. There were bags underneath his eyes as if he never slept but the smile on his face kept him quiet.

“Looks like sleeping beauty is finally awake! What took you so long?” Keith winced causing him to groan in pain.

“Not too loud Lance, he’s been in the healing pods for quite awhile so he should be quite sensitive to everything now.” Coran said, voice coming from beside the healing pods as he looked through all the data that was newly updated for that day.

“His vital’s seems all fine but he’s not fully recovered yet which a few days of bed rest should be able to fix so theres nothing to worry.” Collective sighs could be heard as Keith looked around and realised everyone was there.

“It’s good to have you back Keith. How are you feeling?” Turning his head slowly, he found Allura looking at him with gentle eyes. He was slightly surprised when he felt something heavy covering his shoulders.

“You look cold, I thought you might need it.” Pidge said patting his back lightly.

“Thanks.” Damn, his voice sounded so scratchy and awful. “Just tired and cold.” 

“Well I think it’s time to let him get some rest. Hunk could you prepare some food for him when he wake up?”

 “Already on it Shiro, I have the best recipe for this situation and I’m sure he’s going to like it!” Hunk said before he was already out of the door.

“Lance do you think you can carry Keith to his room? It doesn’t look like he has the energy to walk.”

“I’ll manage, besides, he already looks like he’s half asleep.” Feeling himself being carried, Keith whined a little before going quiet. The trip to his room was silent yet comfortable as Keith tugged the blanket around him tighter when he feels cold.

Arriving to their destination, Lance gently placed the blurry eyed paladin onto the bed and felt himself chuckling softly at the way Keith curled up like a cat. Just as he was about to leave the room, he felt a hand tug onto his jacket. Turning back, he found Keith looking at him with sleepy eyes.

“Stay. It’s your fault I’m still cold.” Keith mumbled, pulling the fabric in his hands. But they both know that wasn’t the only reason for Keith not wanting to be alone.

“Well I did apologize and you did trust me in whatever I was about to do so you don’t get to complain.” Lance said in a mocked hurt tone but he was already moving back towards the bed and telling Keith to scoot over to give him room before lying down. Pulling the bundled up paladin, Lance spooned them making Keith sigh slightly at the heat.

“You’re really warm for someone who controls ice most of the time.” Smiling softly, Keith closed his eyes.

“Shut up and sleep.”

_That night, Keith didn’t dream of raging fire and endless darkness that threatened to swallow him hole. Instead, he dreamt of blue ice and cool waters that made him feel at peace._

 

~Fin~

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading for reading! <3


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